Page 22 of Christmas Agreement
The whole team was, if we were going to be honest about it. And the dude wasn’t wrong. My husband was trying to pick up my brother’s slack.
I knew Kyle was distracted tonight. He probably shouldn’t have been on the ice at all. His wife was going to go into labor any minute, and I knew it was all my brother could think about.
I ran my hand over my own pregnant belly and smiled. I still had a few months to go before our baby was born, so Rugar wasn’t nearly as concerned about me yet.
The last five years had been the most amazing of my life. Rugar and Kyle had signed with the Charleston Lynx, so we never had to guess at the future. At least not right out of college. The guys were gone a lot, but the time flew by.
Rugar and I had gotten married the year after we’d graduated and I’d started work at a design firm while he busted his ass through a grueling rookie year in the pros.
Now, things were settling down for us. Since I could remote work, I’d been traveling with the team, so Rugar and I could spend a little more time together, though practices and game day routines and publicity still kept him busy on the road. And since I was nearing my due date, I wasn’t travelling as much anymore.
I watched with bated breath as my husband lined up a shot. The crowd went insane as the seconds ticked down to the end of the game, then the puck slid neatly beneath the goalie’s pads and into the net.
“Goal!” the announcer shouted, barely audible over the roar of the fans and the squeal of the airhorn.
Rugar did a victory lap, blowing me a kiss as he skated past.
“Was that for me?” the man next to me joked.
“Nah,” I said with a smile. “That’s my husband.”
* * * *
I sat with the rest of the families in the arena suite, waiting for the players to come out of the locker room. The other wives wereexcited to talk to me about labor and babies and all manner of pregnancy stuff, but I could barely listen. I just wanted to hug my husband and get home.
Cheers went up again as the doors opened, and we all stood and clapped for the conquering heroes as the team came in to greet us.
Rugar walked straight to me and pulled me into his arms, kissing me deeply as people wolf-whistled around us.
“Nice work,” I told him, pulling back to look at him. “How’s Kyle?”
“He’s fine,” Rugar assured me. “He left pretty quickly to check on Mandy. But he said they’d be over for Christmas Eve dinner if she’s up to it.”
“Let’s go home,” I said, leaning in for another kiss. “I want to celebrate alone tonight.”
“And what did you have in mind?” he whispered, brushing his lips over my earlobe.
“I was thinking we could get in bed,” I whispered back. “And you could rub my feet while I watch Hallmark movies.”
“That’s exactly how I want to celebrate a game-winning goal,” he agreed with a grin. “Come on, Katie-Kat. Let’s get you home.”
Home with Rugar was the only place I honestly ever wanted to be.
Epilogue Two
Katie
Three years later
Standing in the front yard of our new house while our moving truck drove away, I wrapped my arms around my middle and stared out over Lake Majestic Falls and the Adirondack mountains surrounding us.
Rugar slipped his arm around me. “Glad to be home?”
“Yes. I’ve missed it so much. How about you? Ready to coach?” Though he was only thirty, he’d decided to retire from the pro hockey after the finals a few months ago. We both missed home and hated all the travel. For the past eight years it had only been the two of us, but we were ready to start a family. We wanted to start that family here.
Of course, our old high school had been looking for a new hockey coach. It had seemed like a sign, and they snapped up Rugar without any hesitation.
“I’m definitely ready,” he told me. “But we have the rest of the summer before we need to think about that.” That was part of the thing with his pro contracts. With the money he’d been paid, and good investments, we could do just about whatever we wanted for the rest of our lives.
